WASHINGTON (AP) – The Bush administration on Monday upheld the imposition of penalty tariffs on shrimp imports from Brazil, Ecuador, India and Thailand.

The move won praise from U.S. shrimp producers but drew criticism from importers, who said the penalty tariffs would drive up food costs for consumers.

The Commerce Department ruling affirmed with slight modifications a preliminary ruling reached in late July that the four countries were selling shrimp in the United States at unfairly low prices, a practice known as dumping.

The department imposed antidumping tariffs on shrimp imported from the four countries ranging from 9.69 percent to 67.8 percent for Brazil, 2.35 percent to 4.48 percent for Ecuador, 5.02 percent to 13.42 percent for India, and 5.79 percent to 6.82 percent for Thailand.

The penalty tariffs, which are already being collected subject to a possible refund, will be made final in late January if the U.S. International Trade Commission upholds its preliminary ruling that U.S. shrimp producers are being harmed by the imports.

The Commerce Department had ruled late last month that imports of shrimp from two other countries – China and Vietnam – were being sold in the United States at unfairly low prices and imposed antidumping duties on those two nations.

Together, the six countries provide about 75 percent of the shrimp that Americans eat.

An association representing shrimp producers in Ecuador said they were happy the penalty tariffs were set far below the 104 percent to 207 percent tariff rates which U.S. shrimp producers had sought in their petition, given the importance of the U.S. market.

“Hundreds of thousands of Ecuadoreans depend on the shrimp industry for their livelihoods,” said Sandro Coglitore, president of Ecuador’s National Chamber of Aquaculture. “Shrimp is Ecuador’s third largest export after oil and bananas and we have supplied shrimp to the United States at fair and equitable prices for 30 years.”

U.S. food distributors complained that the penalty tariffs will drive up shrimp prices at restaurants and grocery stores.

“During this holiday season, the Commerce Department says Bah humbug’ to American consumers who have come to enjoy eating affordable shrimp dishes in restaurants and at their dinner tables,” said Wally Stevens, president of the American Seafood Distributors Association. “American families need to stop being penalized and taxed by their government when a tiny industry refuses to compete or restructure.”

The dumping case was brought by the Ad Hoc Shrimp Trade Action Committee, whose members are located in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North and South Carolina and Texas.

Representatives of this group said that the government’s action would save thousands of American jobs in an industry that has suffered severe financial losses because of unfair trading practices of other countries.

“It is hard to watch entire communities in Louisiana become ghost towns due to unfair trade,” said Kim Chauvin of Chauvin, La. “Some of the world’s most technologically advanced boats have been repossessed by banks and families have been forced to abandon their way of life.”